Indie Gems: Hellion
Metal and Motocross
Jacob (Josh Wiggins) is your typical angry 13 year old. He's into motocross, metal, and causing trouble with his friends. Eventually that trouble leads to his 10 year old brother, Wes (Deke Garner) getting taken away by CPS to live with their aunt. (Juliette Lewis) Their father, Hollis (Aaron Paul) has been drinking heavily since the death of his wife, and has been leaving them to fend for themselves. Both he and Jacob need to clean up their acts in order to get Wes back.
Aaron Paul continues to be amazing, this is a far departure from Jesse Pinkman. Garnder and Wiggins were wonderful as well. This film reminded me a lot of Hesher, and I think that contributed to me liking it so much. The story was interesting, and it didn't make CPS look like the bad guys. (I always appreciate that, because I hate that so many people view them) The way the film escalates felt organic, and it could've very easily been over the top.
Grade: B
Memorable Quote: "I love you more than anything, you know that, right?" - Hollis (Aaron Paul)
Somehow I missed this post. I had the same feeling about the portrayal of CPS workers. Ditto on how they portrayed police. I get so tired of police and social workers being portrayed as idiots or overzealous assholes. In this movie, these folks were just doing their jobs. They looked like people I've known or worked with. :-)
ReplyDeleteI do to. Whenever a social worker makes a mistake in the news, the comments are always so negative. They're not all awful, in fact, most are excellent at their jobs. Only the bad ones make the news because everyone has morbid curiosity.
Delete